REAL Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne slammed Bethenny Frankel for claiming the disgraced star’s ex Tom Girardi owed “everyone money.”
The RHONY alum shared her thoughts on Erika and Tom’s fraud scandal during a recent episode of her podcast Just B With Bethenny Frankel.
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During the podcast, the 50-year-old explained she knew Tom because he had worked with her late ex-fiancé, Dennis Shields.
Dennis died in 2018 and he had been in touch with Tom while they were both working in law.
While reflecting on the claims that Erika, 50, and Tom embezzled millions from his former clients, Bethenny told her listeners: “I have a specific perspective on this.
“This was in 2018, Dennis and I watched the show — the Beverly Hills Housewives. … I was aware of Tom.”
The RHONY alum recalled meeting Tom at a conference she attended with Dennis, where the group discussed Erika’s habit of flaunting her wealth on the Bravo show.
She said on the podcast: “My experience is — especially with the Housewives, but really, everywhere as well — if someone’s flaunting their money, they don’t really have it.
“Particularly on Beverly Hills, there have been a lot of ‘all show and no go’ girls. The more that they flaunt it and the more that they brag about it, usually there’s something wrong.”
BETHENNY’S SUSPICIONS
Bethenny admitted thinking it would be “hard to sustain” the luxurious lifestyle Erika had on RHOBH, adding that her suspicions were seemingly confirmed thanks to Denis’ insight into the couple.
She shared: “Dennis said to me, ‘[Tom] doesn’t have it like that. He owes him money. He owes half a million dollars. He owes me a million and half dollars, according to someone I know. He doesn’t have money. He owes everybody money.’
“And I go, ‘What are you talking about? How is she flying around on [private planes]?’ And he said, ‘It’s because he’s using people’s money to support her lifestyle. He’s using the company’s money to support her lifestyle.’ Dennis said this. … I said, ‘Why would he do that?’ He goes, ‘He can’t say no to [Erika].’”
‘WELL-KNOWN SECRET’
Bethenny added that Tom’s sketchy financial deals were “a well-known secret” to those that he worked closely with.
Her thoughts on Erika and Tom were once again confirmed when she spoke to another “billionaire lawyer” about their finances at a following conference.
She recalled: “When Dennis [told the lawyer] … ‘Do you know Erika Jayne spends $50,000 a month on her hair and her makeup?’ The guy was like, ‘What? He owes everybody money. He’s being sued by everybody.’
“So it was a thing. So I knew about it.”
ERIKA CLAPS BACK
Shortly after Bethenny’s podcast episode went live, Erika clapped back at the star.
While speaking to Page Six, the RHOBH star’s attorney Evan Borges said: “Erika has no knowledge of the alleged loans or the conversations referred to by Ms. Frankel, which even per Ms. Frankel, didn’t involve Erika.”
He added: “To me, this is another example of people trying to throw dirt on Erika based on alleged conversations (this time, with an individual, Dennis [Shields], who I understand is deceased) where even the perpetrator of the gossip says Erika wasn’t involved.”
However, a source close to the RHONY alum told the outlet that Bethenny “compliments Erika” during the episode, adding: “This is about Tom and the deception he perpetuated throughout the legal industry, which was widely known for years.”
While Erika is recently single following her divorce from the lawyer, Bethenny is engaged to Paul Bernon, 43.
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